1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method of and apparatus for producing frozen confections of the type that includes a block of frozen confection material and a stick projecting from the block, and, more particularly, the present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for extracting frozen stick confections from the mold cups of an apparatus for freezing the confection material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,031,978 to M. B. Rasmusson describes an apparatus for producing frozen confections which generally includes an apparatus for freezing confection material, a filler for depositing confection material into the mold cups of the freezing apparatus, and an extractor-conveyor for extracting the frozen confections from the mold cups after the confection material has been frozen therein. The freezing apparatus includes a plurality of mold strips, and each strip includes a row of mold cups. The filler is situated at one end of a cold brine tank of the freezing apparatus through which the mold cups are conveyed, and confection material is successively deposited by the filler into the cups of the mold strips. After the confection material has been partially frozen, sticks are inserted by a stick inserter to embed the sticks in the material so that the ends of the sticks project upwardly from the mold strips.
The extractor-conveyor of the aforementioned Rasmusson patent includes a plurality of extractor bar assemblies and an endless chain conveyor for indexing the extractor bar assemblies from an extraction station situated at one end of the freezing apparatus to an ejection station situated over the wrapper. At the extraction station, an extractor bar is lowered to engage the sticks of the confections within a row of mold cups, and simultaneously therewith, a tank having a hot liquid therein is raised to submerge the bottoms of the mold cups in hot water to thereby heat the mold cups to the extent that the frozen confections may be readily separated therefrom.
A sprayer device has also been developed for heating the mold cups to permit the confections to be removed. U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,895 to J. S. Brown discloses a sprayer apparatus wherein hot water is directed in prescribed trajectories against opposite sides of the mold cups at the extraction station to heat the mold cups without requiring that the mold cups be lowered.
A general criteria for the operation of an extractor for frozen stick confections is that while the mold cups must be adequately heated to an extent which permits the confections to be removed, the confections should not be overheated so that an unnecessarily great amount of confection material is left in the mold cups after extraction. Generally, the worst case situation is contemplated in determining the amount of heat to be applied to separate the confections; enough heat is applied to remove the confections that are the most difficult to extract, such as a confection that is formed in a dented or otherwise defective mold cup. Otherwise, it would be possible that the extractor would lose its grip on such a confection tenaciously contained in a defective cup and so fail to remove it from the cup. If a confection is not removed, such confection will of course not be transferred to the wrapper and thus will be lost. Moreover, the missed confection must be removed, otherwise the filler would attempt to deposit more confection material upon the missed product. To prevent this occurrence, operators have normally increased the temperature of the spray or diptank water so that, on the average, the confections are excessively melted.